March 2010 Meeting Minutes

Welcome!

PGS Scholarship – Beth Dimento - She's been on the scholarship committee aprox 18-20 years ago. Donna Powers is also involved. They've tried to have additional people on the committee. Scholarship goes to a PGS student that's graduating from Triton and going to College (either 2 or 4 year college) Triton has a 'common' application. All the kids fill out the same application. There are well over 50 scholarships avail for Triton Seniors. Donna & Beth perfected the criteria on what they'd like to see for the PGS Scholarship winner. Students attach a letter on why they'd be a good selection. They need 3 recommendations and needs the student's transcript. Student has to have done a fair amount besides just go to school - sports, have a job, volunteer. They try to reward the student that took challenging classes, have sort of an idea on what they want to go to college for. A focused student w/ a plan. Donna & Beth pick their top 3-5 applicants. They've always agreed on their decisions. Anyone that would like to either be on the committee or observe the process, please contact Beth Dimento at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . $750.00 is the amount of the scholarship that Pine Grove PTO funds each year.

Approval of:

Minutes (approval of January & February minutes) - January's approved by Amy Rotberg. Jean Atherton 2nd.
February's minutes –Ammendment: $ 2.75 are the cost that Country Gardens will sell them to us. Recommended to sell them @ $5.75. Jean Atherton Approved. Joan Petersen 2nd.
Treasurer’s Report - Approved by Amber Quigley. 2nd Amy Rotberg.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS:

Updates:

Pizza sale for Bark Mulch (sales end MARCH 5^th) (Pick up Wed. March 24^th)
- Student Council helped Liz get the flyers together to go out before vacation. Thanks to them!
- Already have 18 orders turned in.
School Council - John Quigley elected.
Student Planners - 3rd, 4th, 5th graders. Madison Butler - a 3rd grader was the winner of the planner contest. Congrats Madison!
District Arts Festival on 3/9: fundraiser - we as a PTO will put together a raffle basket. The three PTO/PTA's will be together at a table and we'll split the profits of the raffle basket.
Beverly Buccheri offered a candle fundraiser. She's the owner of BC Essentials. She donated a candle to the Arts Festival raffle basket.
Antiquities Pictures - Need to sell 60 spots in order to have them come. $10.00 per spot. You'd get a free 10x13 photo and have the opportunity to purchase other photos. To have the pictures back by Mother's Day, we'd have to do the photo's at the end of April.
- If we sell more than 60 tix, the profit goes up. If we sell 60 tix, the profit is aprox $1000.00. We'll put together a flyer & see how many folks are interested. We'll try to get a display of the photo's @ Pine Grove during teacher conference days so people can see what they look like.

NEW BUSINESS:

Fund Requests:

$ for Google Art contest $200 - put on by Jen Dubis. she's done this for the past couple of years. she grants 1st, 2nd, 3rd place winners for each grade level. Theme is 'If I Could Do Anything I Would ........' Jen thought it would be great for the teachers to get involved. The PTO board voted in $50.00. A motion was made for $200 to be used to purchase 21 prizes.
1st place prize will be a tee shirt w/ their design on it, 2nd place prize is a tub of clay, 3rd place prize is twist-able pencils. Accepted by Jill Bouley. 2nd Amber Quigley. All in favor.
$ for movie night expenses ($75 license, need food and supplies, raffle item) $100 - Got a lot of votes. Where The Wild Things Are is the movie that will be shown. Doors will open @ 6:15. Movie will start @ 7pm. Need some supplies. Raffle item..maybe the Where The Wild Things Are book. The motion was made for $100 to cover the expenses. Joanna White accepted. Joan Peterson 2nd. All in favor.
$ for teacher snacks $50 - Conferences March 18th & 19th. Money will go towards water, fruit and anything that parents don't volunteer to bring in. The motion was made for $50 to cover the expenses. Amy Rotberg accepted. Amber Quigley 2nd. All in favor.
$ to support TMS/THS hosting Dr. Englander $100 - Dr. Engalder - doing an assembly on bullying. All the parents in the district will be invited to the evening assembly. Geared towards 5th graders and up. March 18th. Christine Kneeland has seen her twice and says that she's a great speaker. TMS/THS want to be proactive on the bullying issues. Flyer is being made to be sent out to everyone. We'd suggest that 5th and 6th grade parents to attend. $3150.00 is the cost of the whole program. (basically 3 assembly's) The High School PTA President is asking each school, police depts for money to help defray the cost. $100.00 to help sponsor the program. Triton Ed is donating aprox $1000.00. Letters went home to ask for $25.00 per family as well. The motion was made for $100 to be donated to help fund this speaker. Joan Petersen accepted. Aleta Budd 2nd. All in favor.
$ for Ice Cream Social Budget $500 - Ice Cream Social will be on Tuesday May 11th 5pm-7pm. Pam Gay will head up the committee. Typically we make aprox $1200.00. Need to rent the dunk tank and another fun item. This is typically not geared as a fundraiser. It's a fun community event. The motion was made for $500 to be used for the Ice Cream Social event. Jill Bouley accepted. Amber Quigley 2nd. All in favor.

Upcoming events:

March on the HILL-March 23, 9am-12pm - Trying to get a group together w/ PTO & RPEF. Going to Boston to stand for Education. We'll get more info out to folks.
District Spelling Bee - no new update. tentative for May time frame. 4th, 5th & 6th graders can participate.

FUTURE Events/Fundraisers/Ideas/Discussions:

Math/Science Night - Super Science Circus was here last year. RPEF funded - They will be here April 15th. PTO ran the concessions table. Free event. Cost aprox $1700.00 - 1800.00 We will be looking for volunteers!
5K - CoolRunning.com website will be avail on Wednesday. Amber Quigley is asking for an additional $15.00 for funds. Every 10-14 days we'll get a check cut to us for everyone that signs up to run/walk. $18.00 for adults. Children 5-18 $10.00 A motion was made for $15 to pay the remaining expense of coolrunning.comAmy Rotberg accepted. Joan Petersen 2nd. All in favor.
Jog A long - Amy Moreland presented. Friday May 21st. We'll see if Kyle Campbell can help set up the course. We'll encourage kids to bring in their own bottle of water. Water station was a little disorganized last year. We'll get plastic cups for kids that forget to bring in water bottles. Need to make sure that parents send in their permission form in order for kids to participate in the JogAlong. If kids don't have the permission slips turned in, they won't be able to walk/run. We can have the permission slips at the Ice Cream Social voting table for parents to sign, then we'll turn the slips into the Teacher's mailboxes.
Book Fair - We had the Scholastic Book fair in the fall. We raised aprox $2000.00 for the library. Question is - do we hold another Scholastic Book Fair? Or possibly do a Barnes & Noble book fair - it's a one night book fair. What ever is bought we'll get a percentage. We'll see if online sales would be honored. We decided on not doing the Barnes & Noble book fair night. We'll still have a Scholastic Book fair. We have to work on picking a week to have it this Spring.
Business Fair - Rachel Dailey presented. She's a stay @ home mother. She started selling Avon last year. She's been doing 'parties' at her house w/ 10 vendors selling things. She's put together a Business Fair - it'll be Saturday May 1st aprox 9am-2pm @ The Rowley VFW. Hall was $75.00 plus marketing and advertising costs. She'll sell tables to local vendors w/ home businesses. $25.00 per table. If they donate an item for a 'raffle table', she'd charge the vendor $20.00 for the table. PTO can be in charge of the raffle table, and bake sale table...maybe sell breakfast, coffee, pizza for lunch. We talked about possibly having it at Pine Grove in the All Purpose Room in the Fall. It would be nice to hold one twice a year. Volunteers are needed!
Pine Grove Earth Clean up Day - No date set yet. Student Council is working on planting on the hill. Want to clean up the school yard. Girls Scouts were interested in repainting the map. Need some raking done. Suggested about putting boards around the back of the playground, along the chain link fence, to make sure the new bark mulch won't run off w/ rain. Looking to do this on a Saturday. We'll need volunteers.
Field Day - Scheduled for Tuesday June 15th. Lynn McCaskall has offered to organize Field Day. Kyle Campbell gave Liz info on Field Day.
Harbor Schools are interested in coming to a meeting to talk about the benefits of being a Foster Parent. There was no interest in having this speaker.
Ristorante Rowley - March 27th - 2 seating's. 4pm & 6pm. Fundraiser for upcoming 5th graders environmental camp. Silent Auction items are needed.
Box Tops - presented by Joanna White - Sent in another 3000 box tops. We'll run the contest thru the end of May. Box tops send out checks twice a year.
MVP Fundraising Cards - Joanna White presented - Sell cards for $10.00 each. Discounts are good for a one year time frame. She will look into what businesses will be on our card if we created on. She will report in April.
Teacher Appreciation Day is May 3rd - Please start thinking about what you'd like to make or donate. Some people do donate money to help pay for items like table cloths, flowers as center pieces. We'll send out reminders!

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT - Switching gears. Focusing on bullying & harassment. Going well. Part 2 of the Community Gatherings - will be 'The Role of the Bystander'. At the end of March. Will get more in depth with regard to cyber-bullying for the older children. Trying to nip things in the bud - working out issues as they happen. The power point presentation that they did on the community gathering will be posted on the PTO Website. Working on bus issues. Trying to be proactive and keep the kids safe on the buses. Any suggestions are welcome! Maybe we'll have a community gathering in the evening for parents to get on board and use the same language as the teachers use @ school. Good feedback from teachers about the community gathering. Kids will be asked to sign a promise to 'not bully'! Teachers are really following thru.